Hot Topics:

Longmont medical marijuana supporters submit signatures for ballot

By Scott Rochat | Longmont Times-Call

Posted:
07/13/2011 05:07:44 PM MDT

Updated:
07/14/2011 06:44:43 PM MDT

Derek King, center, holds a box with petitions gathered by, from left, Henri Morin of Colorado Patients First, Jason Hicks of The Apothecary, Rocky Pedersen, co-owner of New Age Wellness with King, and medical marijuana patient Tim Pickens before the group turned them over to Longmont City Clerk Valeria Skitt on Wednesday. (Joshua Buck/Times-Call)

LONGMONT - Longmont's marijuana dispensaries have another stay of execution.

The dispensaries on Wednesday turned in a 6,254-name petition calling for a popular vote on whether to ban medical marijuana businesses from Longmont. That's 17 percent more than the 5,315 signatures they needed, though the names will still have to be verified by City Clerk Valeria Skitt before the issue can go on the November ballot. She has 15 calendar days to check the petition.

"I'll be thinking about you over the next 15 days," Skitt joked as the final signatures came in.

"Probably about the same as we felt getting those," joked Diane Hill of The Longmont Apothecary.

Derek King, left, and Rocky Pedersen, co-owners of New Age Wellness, count petition signatures at the Longmont Civic Center on Wednesday afternoon before submitting the petitions to City Clerk Valeria Skitt. (Joshua Buck/Times-Call)

The Longmont City Council on May 24 voted unanimously to ban the businesses. The ban was to start July 1, but the city suspended that ban through Wednesday to allow time for the petition drive, in exchange for four local dispensaries holding off on a planned lawsuit.

Now the ban is suspended again, City Attorney Eugene Mei said, until Skitt can review the signatures.

"We try to do it as fast as we possibly can," Skitt said. "But when you have thousands and thousands of names to check, it takes time."

If the petition is valid, the ban will remain on hold until the November election.

The last time a petition challenged a City Council decision was in 2007 when residents pushed for a referendum on the controversial Union annexation. The measure never came to the ballot because the annexation was withdrawn.

Advertisement

Most of the petition signatures were gathered by New Age Wellness, Colorado Patients First and The Longmont Apothecary, three of the dispensaries behind the planned lawsuit. The fourth, the Blueberry Twist, has since closed.

Derek King of New Age Wellness said about 27 people helped gather names, including several who worked both days of the Rhythm on the River festival. One person, Kari Cunningham, gathered 700 signatures single-handedly.

"This is really stressful and exciting at the same time," said Jason Hicks, manager of The Longmont Apothecary. "This whole year, it's been busy trying to fight to stay alive."

The city still does not allow new dispensaries within the city limits, a moratorium that has been in place since 2009. With Blueberry Twist closed, six dispensaries remain.

One of those, Nature's Medicine, is already on Plan B: moving. Allyson Feiler said she'll open her new location at 12625 107th St. on Monday. That's at the northwest corner of Colo. 66 and U.S. 287, just over the city limits.

"I don't have to pay city tax. I don't have to deal with the City Council regulating me," Feiler said. "I'm here to stay is my plan. There's too much uncertainty with the city. It's out of control."

She also noted that if the petition is valid and the ban eventually goes away, she may also operate her old Hover Street location in addition to the new one. Either way, she said, the business's name will change to Green Tree Medicinals.

The city's ban had been permitted by a state law, HB 1284, that required communities to either ban or regulate marijuana-related businesses by July 1. Failure to do that meant that a community's dispensaries would come under state regulations instead.

The state regulations are being challenged in court. Four groups, including the Rocky Mountain Caregivers Cooperative and the Cannabis Patients Alliance, filed suit June 30 in Boulder County.

Henri Morin, owner of Colorado Patients First, hugs Kari Cunningham, as proponents against the medical marijuana ban turned in petitions containing 6,254 signatures to Longmont City Clerk Valeria Skitt on Wednesday. Cunningham gathered 700 signatures by herself and Tim Pickens, front, gathered 80. The group needs 90 percent of the signatures to be valid in order for an item to be placed on the ballot regarding the dispensary ban. (Joshua Buck/Times-Call)

"This battle is not about medical marijuana," said Henri Morin of Colorado Patients First. "The battle is not about the shops. The battle is about the respect of the constitution."

Although medical use is permitted by Amendment 20 of the Colorado Constitution, marijuana remains a federally prohibited drug. In a letter this year, U.S. Attorney John Walsh said federal authorities would enforce laws against making, distributing and marketing marijuana, even in states that allow medical use.

"They have limited resources, so perhaps they're just saber-rattling," Councilwoman Katie Witt said on May 24, when the council passed its ban. "But we don't know that."

The dispensaries have been controversial in Longmont, with supporters calling the businesses a necessity for patients, while opponents argued that their presence encouraged greater marijuana use among the young.

As Skitt added up and announced the preliminary total of petition signatures, King breathed a sigh of relief.

"They can throw out eight full pages and we'll still be good," he said.

Scott Rochat can be contacted at 303-684-5220 or srochat@times-call.com.

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.

Boulder is pretty good at producing rock bands, and by "rock," we mean the in-your-face, guitar-heavy, leather-clad variety — you know, the good kind. For a prime example, look no farther than BANDITS. Full Story